One of the best ways to get a feel for Istanbul is to take a cruise on the legendary Bosphorus. Begin the tour with a brief visit to the 17th century Spice Bazaar, one of Istanbul's most colorful and bustling attractions. Then hop aboard your ...

Absolutely excellent, well organised, good information given while sailing an fantastic food. Very enjoyable. The organiser was very polite and knowledgeable about the area and the swim in the Black Sea was great, a trip definitely worth doing

The Tour was beautiful! Me and my boyfriend we both liked it very much. The crew members were very nice and helpful. The guide was also very nice and knew a lot about the History of Istanbul, without ever being boring. The wind was a little cold, but the place where we stopped to swim, had almost no wind and we could dive in the Water without really getting cold. The food was also very good. The only thing that we didn't found that went well was the pick up to return to the Hotel. The day before they warned us that they couldn't take us back to the Hotel, but they would take us to Taksim square or else where. When we got out from the boat there was noone waiting for us. The guide was already gone and we wen't on foot till Taksim square, where we took the Metro back to the Hotel. Still the trip was worth it.

The trip was amazing. They picked us from our hotel on time. It was very easy to communicate with the trip organizers regarding the pick up point. Everything was on schedule. We started from the Golden Horn. First we sailed close to the European side. Then we visited Kucuksu Palace. The place was beautiful. We returned sailing close to the Anatolian side. The guide was very engaging and informative. He told us a lot of interesting facts about the country and its history. He showed us every important land mark along the route. The trip was fantastic and I highly recommend it.

This tour was heaps of fun. The tour guide was entertaining and gave us lots of interesting history. Would definitely recommend doing the full day and not a half day. Swimming in the Black Sea was awesome!

We visited the Spice Markets first which are very colourful and the aroma is superb. From there we did the Bosphorus River cruise which was relaxing and enjoyable. We saw many beautiful buildings along the way as well as palaces and remains of ancient forts. Our guide was Sivlay who looked after us very well.

The transportation to and from was good. The guide was not very good and basically dumped us! The bazaar was teeming with people and we almost lost him a number of times even after asking him to slow down. There was no narration on the cruise, so we didn't really know what we were seeing.

Swimming in the Bosphorus/Black Sea is awesome! Cruising the river on the boat is really fun too. Unfortunately, the rest of the trip is really pretty boring. In the morning you visit these two ugly monuments, a mosque and a royal hunting house, that just make you wonder why you're there. Very who cares. Before lunch you go to the fort, which is kind of cool and would be worth it if you could explore more unfortunately, most of it is off limits. Lunch seemed fine but then really really upset my stomach for the next couple of days. After lunch you go to this tiny fishing village with zero charm and nothing to do, as others have complained. I have no idea why they don't just skip the mediocre meal on the boat and let you do lunch on your own there. Then, finally, to swim--yay! So fun! Too bad the rest of the tour is such a waste of time.

If I had to do this over I would have booked through my hotell instead. The oporator would not pick us up from our hotell and it was extreamly difficult to communicate with the oporator to determine where we had to meet him. Food on boat was mediocer. Views were excellent. We could have booked same cruise at our hotell with pickup and dropoff for much less then we paid. That aside, the Bosphorus in the evening is fantastic.

This trip was disappointing considering the price. We were picked up at our hotel by a van that had another couple already on board and taken to a point well north of the City to meet the boat. When the boat finally arrived, it was already filled with people who had signed up for a full day tour of the Bosphorous so all of the good seats were taken. The location of our pick up also meant that we missed the water views of many of the historic sites in old Istanbul. The lunch was fine, but I had been warned about the high price of the wine served on the boat so my husband and I had brought our own bottle. However, they did NOT allow us to drink it. We heard several people shake their heads at the end of the trip when they were presented the bill for the wine they drank although I don't know what the price was.
Swimming in the Black sea is a bit of an exaggeration. They stopped the boat just past a bridge that was being constructed across the Bosphorous strait where you could see the Black sea. Prior to that stop, they forced us all of the boat for 40 minutes in this lackluster little port on the Asian side that had a few fish restaurants and rather unremarkable shops. I don't know why they even include that stop in the itinerary.

Being picked up from our hotel made it very easy to participate in the tour. It was lovely being on the water however, it was extremely difficult to hear the guide as she had to over-talk the boat's announcements.
The trip to the Spice Market was disappointing as the guide rushed us through to her favorite vendor. I expected to learn a bit about the spices and the variety of vendors.